There are many toys related to basketball and to basketball games which may be used by both adults and children. These toys, which include miniaturized basketball-type apparatuses that fit on waste paper baskets, hook over the upper edge of a door, or mount to a generally vertical surface, are typically found in a residence or work place. These basketball toys are smaller than regulation basketball apparatuses and consequently utilize a smaller ball. Numerous other innovations for basketball toys have been provided in the art that are adequate for various purposes.
While these items fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned basketball toys have obvious constraints and suffer from common disadvantages making them undesirable for use in certain settings. For example, these basketball toys require attachment to other structures (e.g., a door, a wall, or a wastepaper basket) and require some assembly prior to use. Thus, they cannot be played at any place or location—such as the back seat of an automobile, on an airplane, or at a public park. Because of their size and bulkiness, these toys also do not make useful novelty games and devices as stocking stuffers, as give-away items at a sporting event or in connection with sales of a particular product or product promotions in general. Furthermore, many of these items are not amusing or otherwise appealing to the user.
What is needed is a hand-held product for playing a basketball game that is very inexpensive to manufacture, easily portable, practical as a novelty item, and appealing to users.